This is an interview with a Fresno Humane volunteer transporter, Joy. The goal of the interview is to show how easy and sometimes just plain funny volunteering for an animal shelter can be. All it takes is time, a set of dependable wheels and a bleeding heart.
Interview conducted by Amanda Allen, volunteer coordinator.
Amanda: Joy, how many rescue transports have you been on? Do you know approximate miles traveled?
Joy: I've done 9 transports since March 2017, total of 1,500 miles, 59 dogs saved, including six that weren't even born yet.
Amanda: How far did you travel on your rescue adventures?
Joy: Longest trip was 310 miles (round trip) to Los Gatos. Shortest was this week to Clovis.
Amanda: Why Fresno Humane?
Joy: Fresno Humane is rocking it! I am impressed with how well you work with rescues. I am impressed with your euthanasia numbers and the fact that you don't let politics get in the way of saving lives.
Joy: You didn't ask the mechanism that got me involved. It was a Facebook post about a desperate need for a transporter TONIGHT. (Which is why I was cool with you making a post with my picture this week.) Facebook works!
Amanda: What's your motivation?
Joy: I don't have a lot of money... rescue transport is hands down the easiest way I can help. You have amazing staff and volunteers that do the hard stuff. Cleaning the kennels, feeding and play groups. I can't do that; I'm not tough enough. I can't look into a shelter dogs eyes and know I can't help them. I would fall in love with them and it would break my heart because of their unknown fate. The other volunteers are just a lot tougher than I am. :-) Transport is easier on the heartstrings because I deliver dogs to rescue groups who deliver the dogs their happy-ever-afters.
Amanda: Any funny stories from your travels with pups?
Joy: During the Los Gatos trip, I took eight puppies in one large crate, and several of them threw up during the transport. By the time we arrived, they were soaked and covered in puppy poop and vomit, and they STUNK! After transferring them to the waiting Rescue, the poopy newspapers in the crate still reeked, and I knew I couldn't drive all the way back to Fresno with that stench in the back. I decided to stop in at the Los Gatos Fire Department and ask to borrow a hose so I could spray out the crate. (Because firefighters love dogs).
I pulled up behind the station and a couple guys came out to meet me. I got out of the FHAS SUV and explained I'd been transporting puppies and they'd thrown up all over the place, and I needed to clean up before heading back to Fresno. They said no problem and offered trash bags and gloves along with their garden hose.
I went back to the SUV and discovered the keys were still in the ignition and the doors were locked. Embarrassed, I asked for more help. Fire guys got out their lockout kit, took a few minutes and popped the door. They offered to help me get the crate out, but I declined. They'd helped enough. I opened the back, grabbed the crate's front grill, and dragged the whole thing out, letting the back end of it hit the ground. One of the guys yelped and grabbed for it as it fell, the others' eyes bugged out. I didn't understand why until one of them looked a little closer and started laughing. They'd thought the puppies were still inside, and I'd been asking for their help to bathe them. Way to be helpful, Fire Guys!!
Joy headed on her way to transport 8 weaning puppies to rescue. No mom was turned in with this litter but rescue was secured in Modesto, CA with Pupz N Palz. Yay!